This invention relates generally to wearable electronic devices, such as timepieces, and in particular, to an electronic device, such as for example and not limitation, a watch, that has multiple display functionality. More specifically, the electronic device of the present invention provides unique constructions and methodologies for displaying information with the use of hands, such as that found in analog watches (i.e. in an “analog manner”).
Originally, watches were typically viewed merely as a device for telling time or providing other time related information. Over the years, watches have become the means by which information, other than time information, could be presented to the wearer.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,659,521 (“Amano”) describes a watch with a multifunction analog display particularly designed to display time information and biorhythms. Described therein are the use of “small watches” that are able to display the features of the biorhythm along with the display of the current time, and a separate condition display scale and condition display hand is provided therefor. In a related patent, U.S. Pat. No. 6,269,054 (“Truini”) describes the use of separate analog displays that correspond to one's intelligence, emotion and body cycles, and the hands for these separate displays are described as being “enacted” by the watch movement. It can thus be seen that Truini, as well as conventional chronograph watches, do not describe or suggest rotation of the smaller displays based on “stored data,” but rather merely only upon the passage of time. As will become clear below, this is a perceived deficiency in the prior art.
Most displays of non-time related information has been incorporated into the digital watch. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,299,126 describes an electronic tide watch comprising a memory for storing a table of tide times, heights, and geographic offsets, an input circuit for entering times, dates, and geographic offsets, a processing circuit for identifying stored tide information corresponding to a specified time and date, and a display for showing selected tide times and heights.
The use of watches to digitally display information to a user regarding external conditions are also known. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,737,246 describes an electronic wrist watch with water depth measuring capability including an LCD panel and display screen for presenting time and water depth, and a display area that illuminate static arrows to indicate depth variations along with the direction of variation.
Another example is set forth in U.S. Pat. No. 6,314,058, which describes a “health watch” for digitally displaying a plurality of information, such as time, atmospheric temperature, body temperature, heart rate and blood pressure.
At least one patent has described the use of a wristwatch with interchangeable sensors for sensing and conveying to a user, through a digital display, information regarding external parameters. Specifically, U.S. Pat. No. 4,407,295 describes a miniature portable physiological parameter measuring system with interchangeable sensors, in which the system can be incorporated into a wrist-worn device having the general configuration of a wristwatch. Through the use of remote sensors, the '295 patent appears to describe the desirability to enable a wristworn device to monitor heart rates, or other parameters such as lung capacity, temperature, and respiration.
The prior art also describes the use of remotely located sensors that wirelessly transmit heartrate information to a watch. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,538,007, describes the transmission of an encoded digital signal from the chestworn transmitter to the wristworn receiver. The receiver receives unit-specific information from the transmitter, which is displayed in the form of a digital number representing the wearer's heart rate. In a similar manner, U.S. Pat. No. 6,356,856 describes a system for measuring the speed of a person while running or walking along a surface. An acceleration sensor located in or on the wearer's shoe provides an acceleration signal which is processed and then transmitted by means of an RF transmitter and received by an RF receiver in a watch. The information, which can include average speed, maximum speed, total distance traversed, calories expended, and heart rate, is then digitally displayed by the runner or walker.
As therefore can be seen, the prior art generally recognizes that a timepiece, such as a wristwatch, can be used to convey non-time related information to a user.
However, the prior art provides such information in a less than desirable format. For example, many of the aforementioned devices display such non “time of day” information digitally. Accordingly, it is extremely difficult to visually appreciate fluctuations in such parameters as they are being displayed. Furthermore, not all users need to have such exacting information, but rather may merely want to ensure they are within a specified range, etc. (e.g. such as a heartrate). For this reason, it is more desirable and effective to use a hand for the display of such information, so that a user can quickly see where his/her heart rate is relative to a chart or scale, especially when the precision of digital representation is unnecessary. Furthermore, studies have shown that, in certain situations, use of a hand to display information may be more desirable than using digital readouts. Still further, at least U.S. Pat. No. 5,659,521 uses a hand that is mounted on the center axis. Such a limitation prohibits more versatile and widely functional display potentials, and impedes the ability, in some constructions, of viewing the time of day simultaneously with the viewing of other displayable information. Lastly, U.S. Pat. No. 6,269,054 appears to describe separate displays that are not independently driven but rather “enacted” by the watch movement, thereby also contributing to the deficiencies in the prior art. As stated above, such a device only describes the movement of the separate display hands based on the passage of time, not on any information stored in the device. Such is also true for conventional chronograph watches.
Accordingly, it can be seen that further advancements in the art are desired. It is believed that the functionality and methodologies to provide the foregoing advantages and achieve the aforementioned objectives, as well as those set forth below, are provided by the present invention.